


After Morath

by heda_raiven



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Book 4: Queen Of Shadows, F/F, Queen of Shadows Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-23 10:16:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9651488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heda_raiven/pseuds/heda_raiven
Summary: After Elide escapes from the Mountain with Manon Blackbeak in tow, things get spicy, (just kidding. They're "just friends".)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter of what I expected to happen in QoS. Enjoy!

They were safe—for now. The sound of forest life ensured that. The birds that chirped their late night songs, the river that flowed easily and undisturbed. Everything was back to normal, for now. There would be no need for Elide to worry. But that was for Manon to ensure.

“You’re shaking and it isn’t even cold,” Manon said abruptly. But even though her tone was harsh, she shrugged off her hooded cloak and handed it to the malnourished girl she had saved from a tower. Oh how fairy tale like that sounded. It made Manon gag just to think about it.

Elide waved off the cloak, “I don’t need it.”

“What do you need then? I didn’t get you out of that tower just for you to complain.” 

“I’m not complaining,” Elide shrugged through her shivering. She fingered the hem of the rag that she called a dress. Manon wondered how long she’d been wearing it back in that mountain. Any colour had faded from it, and the hem had frayed as much as it possible could. “You’re the one complaining.”

Manon sighed and rubbed at her forehead. She never signed up for this. “I’m not complaining. But if you die than what was the point of me getting you out of there?”

“What do you want—a thank you?”

“In that case, you’re welcome.” Manon stood up and turned away from the fire. “I’m going to look for more firewood.”

But she didn’t walk far, she couldn’t risk it. They didn’t know if someone was tracking their every move. Manon hadn’t been worried for herself, but more for the girl. Acting her part as a servant in chains had ruined all of her physical abilities. She couldn’t run with that ankle—could barely fight back against whatever monsters the mountain had created. 

She hugged the bundle of sticks she had picked up to her chest tightly. She was angry—angry that Elide’s own uncle did this to her. He was no family of hers, by that standard. Leaving a family member in chains, leaving her to suffer illnesses and broken bones. That kind of pain, and many others, shouldn’t have been suffered alone. 

Manon turned around, arms heavy and full. She walked back to the light of the small campfire. They shouldn’t have risked that, either, but Elide needed it. So Manon risked her safety for her warmth.

Elide stood up when she saw Manon come into view from the shadows. Her face was stricken, as if she had seen a ghost. “You should have told me that the wyvern was nearby,” she said. 

“Abraxos won’t hurt you,” Manon dumped the firewood on the floor as she sat down. “You should be more worried about the fact I’m a witch.”

“You have a human heart,” Elide rolled her eyes. “Else you wouldn’t have gotten me out of their.” She nudged her head in the direction that they had come from. 

Manon’s eyes narrowed as she began shoving sticks into the fire. Once it got a little larger, she stopped. Elide shot her hands out to capture the heat. “Take my cloak,” she ordered, once again shrugging it off and shoving it her way. Her order was met with a shake of the head. Manon stood up, walked around the fire and placed it around Elide’s bony shoulders. 

Her hands gently touched the girls skin, and she flinched. The touch of human skin felt strange on her fingertips—she enjoyed ripping men to pieces, but the feel of a woman was always different. She shook any thoughts from her head and sat beside Elide, leaving a space beside them. 

“Get some sleep,” said Manon. “I’ll be watching. So will Abraxos.”

_At least that order was met with compliance_ , she thought as Elide shifted so that she was laying down. Her head just inches away from Manon. It was hard not to look at her sleeping, even harder not to move the cloak so that it covered her body properly. She did the latter, anyway. Her excuse was that the girl shivering was annoying to look at. 

She wrote a mental note to find leathers for her to wear as the began travelling the next day. That is, provided no monster found them over night.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Manon can't seem to appreciate the feeling of i n f a t u a t i o n.

Manon let herself sleep for a few hours, after Abraxos had nudged her once, twice, and then three times. He’d shoved her slightly so that she was laying. She watched him warily, but let her eyes close, and let sleep come in. Her wyvern would watch her. Manon trusted him with her life, just as he trusted her with his own. 

When she woke, it was early light. The fire had burnt out completely, leaving the smell of ash thick in the air. There was no sign of a scuffle in their camp. And yet—as she looked around, startled—Elide was not there. Neither was Abraxos. 

She was to her feet in an instant, hand gripping the sheath of her weapon and mouth wide open—only seconds away from screaming out the girls name. 

“Calm down,” Elide’s voice came from behind her, followed by the frail hand touching her shoulder. Manon spun around, turning on the girl. “You look like a prey animal whose spotted danger. There is none.”

Elide was hardly dressed, and her hair was soaked through. It stuck to the sides of her head, dripping down her face and to the thin material she wore. Thin and slightly opaque. Manon’s eyes returned to the girl’s face, finding the curves of her body difficult to look at. But Elide continued on speaking, not even noticing Manon’s apparent discomfort.

“I wanted to wash off the sweat and grime from yesterday,” she was saying. “Abraxos followed me to the small stream. It wasn’t far. And you looked quite happy sleeping.”

Manon swallowed, straightening her back and turning towards the heavy breath of her wyvern. “I thought we were on the same page,” she told him with her chin held high. “What would have happened if you two ran into trouble.” Whether Abraxos understood her or not, it seemed as if he shrugged her scorn off. 

“Manon, _I_ wanted to wash. Why are you telling him off?”

“No, you’re right,” she replied. “You are just as irresponsible as a wyvern. I never thought you’d stoop so low.”

Elide’s brow furrowed. “Careful, he heard that.”

Manon rolled her eyes and rubbed at her eyes. “We have to get going.” She motioned for Abraxos to hit the skies; he knew by now to signal her when he spotted trouble. Then she began walking into the forest, steering Elide safely towards Terrassen to find her Queen. Once that was done, she could head back to her Thirteen to face much more pressing matter at hand.

“Uh,” Manon heard from behind her. She turned around to see Elide hadn’t even taken a step. “Before we start trekking, I need to deal with my ankle.” She paused, waiting for a response from Manon. When there was none, she groaned, “It’s aching.”

Manon looked into the forest, away from Elide and towards their destination. She didn’t want to waste time at this point. There was news to collect about what happened at Morath, she hated every second away from getting those answers to her questions. But she turned back to Elide. They weren’t going to get far with her in pain.

“What do you need me to do?” she said.

Elide gestured to a bundle just beside her as she sat down. “I found some things that might work, to at least numb the pain for a few hours.” Manon approached her and turned over the herbs, feeling them in between her fingers. She shook her head.

“They won’t do,” she sighed, then reached for Elide’s dainty ankle. It felt like a small stick in her hands. It seemed easy to break. She mumbled to herself, “I’ll just to what I can.” And gently, her thumbs rubbed in circles. She ensured that her nails were retracted so that they wouldn’t scratch against her already roughened skin. 

She looked up at the eerily quiet Elide, wondering why she hadn’t said a word. To her surprise, she found that the girl had tilted her head back, had her eyes closed, and her mouth slightly ajar. Manon found herself smiling at the clear ease of pain it was giving Elide.

She shook her head when she realised herself, and turned back to her hands at work. In her mind, she couldn’t put a sentence together in order to shun herself. And then she saw that she was on her knees for a weak human, and the disgust riled her enough to stand up—leaving Elide wide eyed and frowning.

“What is it?” she asked. 

“We need to go. Get up.” Manon turned, so that any discolour in her face wasn’t seen. But somehow she felt that Abraxos saw it even in the skies as he let out a small call down to them. She cursed at him in her mind, and willed Elide to be quick about following her.

“Thank you,” the girl said as she caught up alongside the witch. “That—that actually did help.” Manon continued to look forward, eyes alert for danger and danger alone. She ignored whatever else Elide had to thank her for.


End file.
